Quadry: The Future Looks Bright

Destiny's Story: Supporting Young Parents and Their Children

Our voices and backgrounds are diverse. And we share a mission to create pathways of opportunity so every child, youth and family in Charlotte-Mecklenburg can rise.

Through Leading On Opportunity's community-inspired strategies: we engage diverse voices uplifting community; weamplifystories and data shifting the narrative and celebrating community success; weinfluencepolicies and practices building public will and shared accountability ultimately resulting in transformative change.

October 15, 2019

A Wake-up Call

In 2014, the Chetty Study ranked Charlotte last among the 50 largest US cities and Mecklenburg 99 out of 100 counties in upward mobility. Access to economic opportunity in Charlotte-Mecklenburg is far too often aligned with the zip code where one lives. In response, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force led by Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown and Dee O'Dell, released the Opportunity Task Force Report intended to be a living document offering 21 strategies, multiple recommendations and tactics to engage our community while establishing the Leading on Opportunity Council, led by James E. Ford and Andrea B. Smith, to continue the work forward through implementation. Laying the foundation of the work the Opportunity Task Force reports calls us, individually and collectively, to take bold action in the years ahead so together, we earn a new reputation as a community that is "Leading on Opportunity."

Stay Informed

The Agent of Change for Opportunity in Charlotte

WSOC TV • Kevin Campbell - June 10, 2019

“Our child and family stability strategies need to ensure that parents who are coming into a housing challenge of figuring out where they’re going to live have immediate access to resources,” Cooper-Lewter said. Among the many Cooper-Lewter has connected is a group of community organizations that have been champions for change, including, A Child’s Place, Community Link, Charlotte Works, Goodwill, Crisis Assistance Ministry, For Charlotte, Northside Baptist Church and more.

GreenLight Fund Invests $1 Million in Early Childhood Initiative

Queen City Nerve • Ryan Pitkin - May 29, 2019

“This investment connects directly to our early care and education strategies,” [Leading on Opportunity Executive Director] Cooper-Lewter continued. “It aligns and fills a gap where early care recommendations were not being addressed and says, ‘This is something that we can do differently as a community.’”